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THE WAY IT WAS

Bryan returns to Ocala to campaign for U.S. presidency

William Jennings Bryan returned to Ocala in 1900 to speak to a large crowd on the southeast corner of the courthouse square about his possible nomination to seek the presidency on the Democratic Party ticket. (File photo)

By David CookColumnist

Published: Saturday, February 9, 2013 at 6:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, February 8, 2013 at 4:07 p.m.

That silver-tongued orator William Jennings Bryan was back in Ocala in February 1900 for still another speech designed to convince voters he should be elected president on the Democratic ticket, if only the Democrat delegations were smart enough to nominate him again.

There were other reasons for Bryan’s latest trip to Florida, and Ocala in particular. He had relatives at Astor Park that he would visit and, down in Miami, a daughter who apparently was turning into a remarkable politician herself.

Even today, there is a countryside cemetery just outside Astor Park, on the north side of State Road 40, containing numerous Bryan family headstones.

In early 1900, Bryan was seeking the support of Democratic Party delegates in his newest quest for the presidency. He spoke from the gazebo, then on the southeast corner of the courthouse square in downtown Ocala, to a crowd estimated at 4,000 people.

A speech by the most famous speech-maker in the country was a major recreational event, and it was not unusual for large crowds to gather to listen to Bryan’s views on the major issues of the day. He was still promoting silver to back U.S. currency, although that issue would diminish in the future.

Passionate but not impressive

Bryan’s speeches about the nation being sacrificed “on a cross of gold” were passionate, but not very impressive in the face of the almost universal appeal of gold as a source of real wealth. The gold rushes to the Yukon and to South and Central America showed where the public sentiment resided.

The Republicans backed the gold standards and, in the end, the Democrats were forced to concede the issue. The great silver interests of the western U.S. could not shake the public’s confidence in and desire for gold.

In July 1900, the Democratic National Convention would nominate Bryan as its presidential candidate by a unanimous vote, on the first ballot. But no matter how hard Bryan campaigned to become president, the voting public felt otherwise.

William McKinley won re-election, with an up-and-coming politician named Theodore Roosevelt as his vice president. Four years earlier, McKinley had beat Bryan by about 600,000 votes. This time around, McKinley increased his victory margin by some 860,000 votes.

Back again

Ocala had not seen the last of Bryan. He would be back, speaking from the gazebo on the square, in search of another nomination for the presidency. But Democratic attitudes had hardened by the time the 1904 election rolled around.

Teddy Roosevelt, the hero of the Spanish-American war, had become president on the death of McKinley, and although a reformist, he still had the trust of the Republican Party. If there had been public opinion polls in that day, they surely would have shown the GOP had an unbeatable ticket.

The Democrats wanted nothing more to do with Bryan. They selected a virtual unknown, Judge Alton B. Parker of New York, as their candidate. To make him palatable, the Democrats decided to drop their campaigns in behalf of silver to back U.S. currency and for an income tax to help support the government.

Parker and the Democrats were buried in the popular vote. Bryan would have to sit fuming on the sidelines because he had been left out of the debate.

Fuming to darling

Bryan had plenty of issues to talk about during the next four years, and by 1908 he once again was the darling of the Democratic Party. Changing times saw him becoming popular with the voting public once again. Remember: women did not have the right to vote.

Roosevelt had turned out to be a real progressive and no longer fit comfortably into the Republican mold. He had promised not to run for re-election in 1908, but he did have a candidate, William Howard Taft. So, the GOP convention nominated Taft.

The Democrats met in Denver in July 1908, and Bryan was the nominee to seek the presidency. It appeared that Bryan might have his best chance yet to become president, since he seemed assured of getting the vote of western states that hadn’t dropped their vision of silver becoming the coin of the realm.

Bryan trailed Taft by 1.2 million popular votes. He had done far better than Judge Parker four years earlier, but it was clear he wasn’t the man of the hour. He was an “also ran.”

Defeated, but not done

Almost unbelievably, Bryan wasn’t through politically. In 1912, he would become a major player in the Democratic Party nomination of Woodrow Wilson on the 49th ballot. Only when Bryan threw his support to Wilson did he win the nomination.

A split in the Republican Party that pitted Taft against Roosevelt resulted in the election of a Democrat as president. Feeling betrayed by the Republicans, Roosevelt created what was called the Bull Moose Party, and that spelled political doom for the Republicans and for Roosevelt.

William Jennings Bryan became Wilson’s secretary of state. It was a job he welcomed with relish. But when war broke out in Europe, he favored neutrality. In 1915, when it was obvious the U.S. would not remain neutral, Bryan resigned.

As an old man, he would become somewhat infamous in the Scopes “monkey trial” in Tennessee in 1925. Bryan represented the prosecution and won, at least temporarily. The trial, however, was his last gasp. He died in Dayton, Tenn., a few days after the trial ended, a sad ending for a political career that had promised so much.

An avid Marion County historian, David Cook is a retired editor of the Star-Banner. He may be contacted at 237-2535.

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